Kena: Bridge of Spirits

Wonderful and surprisingly good.

Because it's the first real game developed by a studio with a background in 3D animation for advertisements, I assumed it would be pretty, have serviceable gameplay, and likely be short. Instead, I experienced excellent gameplay: a feast of diverse locales, challenging combat, and clever environmental puzzles. Controls feel good and even the 3D platforming bits are non-frustrating, a rare feat to pull off even for seasoned devs.

Combat deserves special praise. First off, it will give you a run for your money, even on default difficulty. There are many enemy types and it takes time to learn their attacks and vulnerabilities. Bosses are cool, tough, and fair. And there are a lot of them.

Kena is not an open world game, but there are several large areas to explore and get to know. They are all a pleasure to traverse and well-saturated with little secrets and collectibles. However, the game also suffers from many "invisible walls" that keep you on the supported paths. There is so much alluring look-but-cannot-touch detail that it makes you wonder if and how the devs would pull off a more interactive game world given more time and experience. It's just that enticing. Still, the more linear concept works well for this particular game.

The story is basic but does what it needs to do. Again, it's a surprise that despite the devs' background in media, Kena ends up being a game for gamers. It respectfully stays out of your way and avoids filler so that you can focus on playing it. Even the cutscenes are skippable.

It's technically very impressive, but was poorly optimized at launch. The only way I could avoid stuttering on a high-end rig was to cap the framerate at 60 and also downgrade from DirectX 12 to DirectX 11. It was mostly smooth after that, but I still experienced micro-stuttering. Hopefully this will be fixed over time. Really, bad performance is the only thing hurting the experience.

All in all, I had a lot of fun and worked up a bit of a sweat with this gorgeous and exciting game. Very satisfying and highly recommended.